I know that my husband and I are not the only ones out there in the great U S of A that fell for the line “It’s a BUYERS market!” for some people this rings very true. For others, us in particular, it’s a bit of a misleading statement. Along with all the news of massive foreclosure’s hitting the market, it’s easy for one to believe that all they need to do is get pre-approved and a house normally out of their price range would be handed to them. Ok, so maybe that’s a little bit of an exaggeration, as even the most naïve know that there is a little bit more to it than that.
To me what a “buyers market” combined with foreclosures implies is an inventory larger than the demand, and prices that are low if not rock-bottom along with a little to zero chance of getting stuck in a bidding war. What we’re finding is the opposite. Out of the eight houses we’ve seen, we were advised that two were priced low to create a bidding war and would go for well over the listing price (ie:$20,000 over). One got bought out twenty minutes after we saw it, right before we could put our bid in, and four days after being listed. Another lender wouldn’t deal with our lender, we’re going FHA. On two of the houses the listing agents were expecting bids with large amounts of cash down to back up the offer. Those are only the houses we’ve been able to see so far, at least fifteen that I was interested in went into Escrow before we could check them out. One literally went contingent, an offer was accepted, an hour and a half before we went to view it.
We’ve been looking since middle of June, and it’s becoming frustrating. Neither of us thought it would be this hard. What we’re finding is that the supply is actually decreasing due to the moratorium placed on banks from foreclosing and likely in part due to homeowners not selling at this time. The demand is also increasing, specifically in our price range and in our area which is admittedly in higher demand then other parts of the country. Our price range is clearly the target price for most people within our area, it’s what I’d dub the “thanks greedy banks! Now even I can afford a house on a Wal-Mart Salary!!” budget. Note, I do not work at Wal-Mart and I do not know how much they make there it’s a metaphor.
We are checking out more houses tonight, my fingers are crossed that we can get in a bid before the house sells under our feet. Lastly, I am praying that the meth lab moved to another neighborhood than the ones we’re looking into… Anyone else out there having problems trying to buy their first house?
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